July 8, 2009 at 6:00 am · Filed under Health, Nutrition
To help you lose weight and go strong as you stride, work these healthy, expert-recommended eats into a 1,500-calorie-a-day plan.
Homemade trail mix
The complex carbs in this snack may keep energy up and weight down: A study from England found that women who ate muesli and fruit before exercising burned twice as much fat during a workout as those who ate cornflakes, white bread and jam. Mix 1/2 cup Kashi GoLean cereal, 1 large whole-grain pretzel broken into pieces, 3 Genisoy crisps and 1/4 cup walnuts (344 calories, 39 grams carbs).
Eggs
A 78-calorie egg contains all the amino acids your muscles need to recover post-walk. It will also help ward off hunger: Women in a study from Saint Louis University who chose eggs rather than a bagel for breakfast ate 264 fewer calories throughout the day.
Cherries
A substance in tart cherries (52 calories per cup) may reduce inflammation. Exercisers who drank 12 ounces of cherry juice, such as Eden Organic Montmorency Tart Cherry juice, twice a day for eight days were less sore after strength-training than those who didn’t have the juice, according to a University of Vermont study.
Salmon
Eating this fish may help keep you from getting winded: A two-year Japanese study found that the omega-3 fatty acids in salmon improve lung function. The fish contains more than the daily recommended 1.1 grams of omega-3s per 181-calorie, 3½-ounce serving. Try two or more servings a week.
Dry-roasted edamame
The protein in soybeans helps regulate blood sugar “to give you a consistently high level of energy on longer walks,” says Meridan Zerner, R.D., of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas. Plus, edamame has 4 grams of feel-full fiber per 127-calorie lh-cup serving.
Low-fat plain yogurt
“Studies show that we lose calcium when we sweat,” says FITNESS advisory board member Leslie Bonci, R.D. One 120-calorie cup of plain, low-fat yogurt provides 40 percent of your RDA.
Spinach
All dark leafy greens contain bone-strengthening vitamin K, but raw spinach packs a whopping 161 percent of the RDA in one 7-calorie cup. Eat it in a salad to supplement each skeleton-boosting stroll.
July 1, 2009 at 6:00 am · Filed under Health
You can seriously slim down and get toned by adding hills, intervals and sculpting moves. “Your muscles will constantly be challenged in new ways for faster results,” says racewalkiug coach Judy Heller, who created the fresh walking workouts.
What you’ll need: Walking sneakers and an exercise band or tube.
1. Steady-pace walk – Burn ab fat and more!
Aim for a speed at which you re hustling but still able to speak in sentences (your rate of perceived exertion, or RPE, on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is sitting still and 10 is a full-tilt sprint, should be about 6 or 7). Depending on your fitness level, this will be somewhere between a 13 and 17 minute mile, which will keep you in the exercise zone.
Maintain this pace until you’ve reached your time goal and not only will you burn more calories, you’ll boost your heart health.
2. Hills walk – Look twice as toned
Tackling hills or stairs will sculpt your legs and butt double-time while burning big calories-58 percent more at a 17-minute-mile pace.
Start out on a flat surface for 15 minutes at a speed at which you’re hustling but still able to speak in sentences (RPE: 6 or 7).
Find a hill or some stepsm or set your treadmill to a 4 to 6 percent incline and walk uphill quickly for 2 minutes.
Walk downhill to recover, or if you’re on a treadmill, walk at a 0 percent incline for 2 minutes.
Aim to maintain your speed or go faster so that you can speak just a few words at a time (RPE: 8). Only one set of stairs? Walk up and down for 4 minutes.
Continue up- and downhill intervals until you’ve reached your time goal. Beginners can alternate between hills and 5 minutes on a flat surface.
3. Intervals walk – Get lean and melt calories
You’ll torch more fat in less time by bumping up your pace a little for manageable bursts—accelerating from a 17-minute mile to a 13-minute mile means 66 percent more calorie burn.
Warm up at your regular pace (RPE: 6) for 6 minutes. Alternate these intervals: Walk as fast as you can for 1 minute (RPE: 8), then slow down to your regular pace (RPE: 6) for 2 minutes to recover. Repeat intervals until you’ve reached your time goal.